One Last Time With Meaning

 Well, it's been a while since I posted, mainly due to a punishing mix of hot weather, long working days and the triple whammy effect of having an unexpected £3500 vet's bill for Canine Unit 7 who, has had to have a major op' to remove and repair a lackof thereafter a cruciate ligament, her second such opearation and one which is very demanding in terms of care and recovery - taking as it does 8-12 weeks od pretty draconian oversight, which when the dog in question is a Scottie, is made doubly difficult, given their stubborn and anti-establisment disposition (somewhat like your correspondent, some may say).

 Just over two weeks in, and CU7 does seem to be doing well 

So, gaming has been a bit of a back burner topic, although I have been busy in putting together the last great project, before I truly cease with the wargames acquisitions and just spend time gaming and money on other cheaper things such as narcotics and hookers.

It's really an odd sensation to realise that you are in the late Autumn of your life and it makes you both philosophical and terrified. A simple alpine planked wall or black and white tiled floor can give you a screaming fit as you imagine cheap coffins and mortuaries...

Still, it comes to us all and I will be able to get it over and done with and move on.

I had been floating back and forth between FIW and AWI, with a friend trying to convince me that 7YW was the way to go, but in the end, I realised that despite my protestations to the contrary (I am regularly called a contrarian by certain of my acquaintance) I am addicted to pike and shot gaming.

The trouble is, I've done it to death, and so, I wanted to find something with the familiar werapons of P+S but at the same time, which had a bit of flouncy-shirted vivacity and frippery.

And so, the notion of the Franco Dutch War of the 1670s seemed to cry out to me, that inbetweenies stage in the middle of the final evolution from pike to shot.

I'd long mulled a Charles II army but in the end, the Franco-Dutch War won out. 

Of course, I had to go with the Northstar 1672 range, sculpted by Mark Copplestone, which is gorgeous and has that same appeal to my jaded old eyes as did the Wargames Foundry ECW range when first rolled out to an impressionable youth in the cabinets of Games Workshop Sheffield, many decades ago.

I have gone with reasonably sized, but sensible forces, totalling 31 regiments per side, plus artillery and generals, the infantry being in 20s and the cavalry in 9s, with mostly French and Dutch troops, with a smattering of Swiss and Spanish in the mix. Over time, I'll add a couple of units here and there, from other nations who contributed to the war. Britain is still a minor player at this period, and so a brigade will be a large contingent. At present, it's around 1300 pieces, which is more than enough for a 4-6 player game.

The Dutch have more infantry and the French more horse and dragoons, and my lord, but I love those dragoon uniforms.

I remember in the late 80s, an article on the French dragoons in Military Modelling, which had me smitten with those dapper chaps.

I've still got some credit with my figure painter after this lot, so I may use that on a couple of skirmish projects to round it all out, but there's no rush.

I do have a small project on the drawing board for a Miami Vice game, but the buildings are going to cost a fortune - literally - so I have to decide if I want to go down that slippery slope tp police precedural perdition. We shall see...

My decision not to attend shows since the bloody awful York show at the start of the year has not really slowed my acquisitions down, but to be honest, I really do seem to be reaching a  state of satisfaction with my hobby.

I'm not chasing every new fad which some company or other trots out. Indeed, it's taken me a long, long time to decide that the 1672 range was more than a flash in the pan. I'm the last one to lecture on the subject of gadfly gaming, and it would be hypocritical to point the finger solely away from me, but we collectively seem to be chasing the next big thrill and never truly finding it.

I'm approaching my collection along the lines of going for stuff that interests me and screw everybody else. After all, I do not rely on others to put up forces, as I but whole packages as it were.

I've got really pissed off with people recently, who have told me that I should not buy any more, and confine myself to what I have. Well actually, no, I'll collect what I want and what pleases me. If you are not part of the project, simply hush, child.  Papa knows what he is doing and, after almost 5 decades, if I've not played it, it's probably not worth playing.

Hopefully I should have all of my stuff painted and back with me, before my 60th borthday in mid-2028, and in the meantime, I'm spending more time going to the theatre and discovering new  musical forms which I previously scorned. And, it's very stimulating.  

Well, I better sign off, but I'll return to the days of yore, next time. I just need to decide what is going into my next book and what can just be written about here, once I get a few hours to myself.

In the meantime, 

 

TTFN